Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
What if...
dellirious13
Member Posts: 205
So....I rarely make topics, but I felt the need to here.
I have been a fan of Anet since they split from Blizz and established themselves. I've loved every game they've helped make (from all the Blizz titles, including WoW vanilla (one of the 3 that split from Blizz had been the head of WoW's development), to GW and now GW2 beta), and I think they have made those games with the gamers and fun in mind. Never skimping on costs to appease the man, and always trying to reach out to customers. There are two companies I will use as reference that did all of this for years as well, but lost their way....One, obviously, is Blizzard. I have always been a fan of them, but their efforts on D3 and (possibly) MoP seem to be almost lazy and very very business-minded. D3 was the first time I was ever truly disappointed by a Blizz title, and I won't forget that when I'm thinking about purchasing future Blizz titles.
The second company should also not come as a surprise: Bioware. Oh Bioware, what happened from the days of Baldur's Gate 1+2, NWN, SW KoR, Dungeon Age: Origins, Mass Effect 1, and Jade Empire. Games that, though they weren't perfect, were epic. Baldur's Gate is STILL playable to this day. Immersive, clever, expansive. Again, they disappointed me when they seemed to start favoring the business-mindedness over the fans (EA, im sure, was part of this).
Anyway, to my question. If Anet pushes toward a business-minded approach in the future (say, starting to sell leet weapons in CS or something), will you defend them? will you make sure they know you are pissed? will you stop playing their future games? will you think twice about buying their titles?
I personally hope this situation never happens, and I think with the leadership they have, it won't, but I would react the same way I reacted to Blizz and Bioware. I'll be skeptical, I'll think twice before spending another dime on their products, and I would want to have access (through youtube, a friend who has it, whatever) to the game, in-depth, before even thinking about purchasing it.
Where do you stand? Please, please, please, be honest. There is no judging here. I defended Bioware up until Mass Effect 3 and defended D3 until I had gotten a play through of it. (And please post your thoughts! The poll is only secondary, imo)
Comments
Poll choices are kind of lacking...
If ANet starts coming out with bad games...I will just stop buying them, that simple. If they came out with a good game, then I would buy it despite previous bad games.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
I have been gaming for 20+ years, and one thing I have learned is that development studios come and go.
I too had been a big fan of Blizzard and Bioware and have been concerned with what happened to them. But it is not like it's any suprise. Neither Blizzard nor Bioware existed when I started gaming and the studios that were like Blizzard and Bioware back in the day do not exist today. It's just the way the industry works.
Both Blizzard and Bioware have actually had a very long run of being at the top. You might feel that the problem is that they have lost their way. I think the real issue is that they are getting old and showing their age. It's the young, excited and hungry developers (speaking in terms of the studios here, not the people working there) that produce the best games from what I have seen over the years. Blizzard and Bioware have simply lost touch with their audience. The way old people lose touch with the modern trends.
Likely, as much as you hope it doesn't happen, ANet will also follow the same road some day. For now, enjoy the games they make which you like. It's all you can do.
Yea, Im not the best at coming up with poll questions, which is why I usually don't post them :P I just wanted to see some of the responses from the people that check topics but don't post
If you can think of a better set of questions feel free to start a new topic with it, and ill have the mods lock this thread down ^^
Same here. Exactly.
With my personality, I would likely petition for a short while. Then, if nothing changed pretty quickly, I'd just shun the game and not play any longer.
As to going back to playing a future title by the same company? If their offense was making the cash shop overly P2W, I would likely never trust the same developer with a cash shop again. If their future endeavors ever included a cash shop that appeared to be fine on day 1, I would still probably avoid it like the plague.
Anet has my trust. This game has a good foundation so I'm not worried. So for Anet's next release I would trust them If I liked what I saw.
Blizz on the other hand lost my trust after d3. Next game from them I will not buy without trying first. No preorders.
I'll never understand brand or company loyalty.
ANet is already there just not as big as EA and they could be someday they'll just do what every big business does to keep the cash flowing in by mimicing what the big boy's do like EA. if they get that big
Evil will always triumph because good is dumb....
The problem is self correcting because they usually start making poor quality games due to profits being their only focus. People get wise and stop buying their games. I compare it to the old arcades where most places were ok even great, but then it was "those" places.
You know the arcades where the machines were always "broken" (rigged to eat quarters) and YOU knew better than to ask for your money back. Those places always had a habit of changing hands or closing all together.
My theme song.
I'd make a complaint, professionally and politely, and see how they respond.
Anet's track record has showen them being very responsive to player feedback, so they might listen. If it appears they won't...well with luck I got my money's worth and can leave with a clear conscience.
ArenaNet has yet to disappoint me. I've been a fan of their for years and it seems that they are one of the few companies left who really understand the average gamer. In other words, I doubt that ArenaNet will start selling actual pay2win items on the cash shop.
Hypothetically speaking, if they do start with the pay2win, I'll probably try the petition approach but if that fails, I'll leave GW2 and be mindful of future ArenaNet projects.
I sort of did the same thing with Ubisoft when they started with that invasive always online DRM. I have not purchased a Ubisoft product since then and probably never will as long as they maintain that always online nonsense. Yup, I'm only one person but I have my stardards and stick to them.
I don't have any blind loyalty to companies. If they put out a good product, I'll buy it. If they put out another good product afterwards, I'll buy that too.
If they stink it up, I'm done. (See: Blizzard).
Agreed.
Considering the fact that since the release of GW1 Anet has maintained its philosophy and stuck by it speaks volumes. Consider Bioware, Blizzard and EA. I hardly remember the days when I thought of EA as I do of Anet. Bioware and Blizzard I think have left their original philosophy and are now much more beholden to profits than to quality games.
Some devs make games to make money while others make money to make games.
Even if they make the cash shop P2W, I would still play. ArenaNet has made an amazing game and I would continue to play it for two main reason:
A) I don't PvP
You can't "win" against me in PvE with "leet" weapons/armor so that's probably why I'll keep playing. As long as they keep some of those awesome looking armor F2P
Agreed with this.
People also need to remember that where EA and the likes (or many game studios at least) are run by suits, ArenaNet is run by a programmer that knows very well what is required in creating a game. I would imagine that causes a slight difference in how the company is run.
The only game company I am biased towards is Sega. All the rest are on a game by game basis.
I'm not sure I understand why people are saying they trust ArenaNet based on their history. I know with GW1 they did the cash shop in a way that a lot of people thought was fair, but I just see a huge difference between this cash shop and the one from GW1.
Like, if we were going to make a comparison of the two systems, I would say that they have already headed in the more "business oriented" direction like the original post alludes to. You can now trade real money for gems and then trade gems for gold. I'd say that is a very big difference between the system in the past and the one in place right now.
I look at their current design and judge it on it's own and I'm personally ok with it. But the idea that ArenaNet has not changed anything major between their last offering and this one, and that is the basis for people's trust in them, seems strange to me.
So, when a company makes its name by saying they will never charge a sub fee for their game (GW1), then does the same thing with they second one, you have to wonder 2 things:
Remember that Anet isn't an enormous company, and most, if not all, of its employees are gamers to the core.
I used to TL;DR, but then I took a bullet point to the footnote.
Sounds like famous last words to me. :P
Isn't their team 270 people big? Is that small for a development team?
Wow man. Jagarid is the wise man of MMORPG.
I feel a calm amidst the storm that is today's MMO fanboyism.